Thursday, June 19, 2008

Two Mexican nationals face deportation after they were arrested for identity theft on Monday at a local contractor's office.

Ricardo Palomo-Coronado, 30, and Delfino Martinez-Sanchez, 54, were removed on Wednesday from the Dyer County Jail by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

According to reports from the Dyersburg Police Department, the Dyer County Sheriff's Department and the Nebraska State Patrol, the two were arrested with identity documents from a man named Christopher Inskeep.

Inskeep had reported his wallet missing in Lincoln, Neb. in 2004. Nebraska State Patrol investigator Jeff Ward was alerted in 2008 Inskeep's name had appeared on an employment document from Forcum Lannom in Dyersburg, where the subject worked from 2005 to 2006.

A Nebraska investigator called Forcum Lannom and asked for employment documents for the man using Inskeep's name. He received images of a Texas driver's license and Social Security card with Inkeep's personal information.

On Monday, a Forcum Lannom staffer called Ward and said a Hispanic male who identified himself as Inskeep was to arrive shortly to apply for a job.

Dyersburg criminal investigators arrived at 10:30 a.m. to find two Hispanic males, a Hispanic female and a male child sitting in a van with the doors open, filling out employment documents.

The group attempted to start the van and leave when police arrived, the report said.

The female driver was identified as Rosalia Manzanares, Clarkton, Mo. and showed a Missouri driver's license and Social Security card with her name.

Manzanares told police she did not know the names of the two men.

Police found the men had Inskeep's information on a Social Security car and Kansas driver's license.

An ICE investigator interviewed the two at the police station and found Palomo-Coronado admitted he had purchased the Inskeep documents in Missouri for $1,500. Delfino Martinez-Sanchez had a Texas driver's license and Social Security card in the name of David Loza-Gracia.

Palomo-Coronado said he had entered the U.S. illegally in April and had been previously deported. Martinez-Sanchez said he had entered the country illegally in 1999.

Both said they were from Mexico and were using the IDs to obtain work, said the report.

During the mens' appearance in Dyersburg City Court on Wednesday, the initial identity theft charges (which are felonies and cannot be tried in a municipal court) were lowered to misdemeanor criminal impersonation charges.

Palomo-Coronado and Martinez-Sanchez were given a 30-day sentence, suspended to time served. Court costs were also suspended.

The man had to use a court-ordered translator for the hearing, but thanked Judge Dean Dedmon before returning to their seats.